I'd say the ego is nothing other than the focus of conscious attention on one's self and believing you are better, more deserving or more in need than others by comparison.
Alan Watts is fantastic. He espoused absolute truths correctly, and he lacked only one piece of information, which reveals the reason why we are experiencing this world of limitation and the ego. (And I say this as a fully-educated prophet of God.) This video is correct, as far as it goes. Want to know more? The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." The ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth
Ego want to manipulate us how to become mental.. either way, if we ignore it... ego become mad as hell, lol . Just take a look around... many things is totally chaos.. chaos by who? People? Yeah people but first who? EGO...
Buddhism is not about getting rid of the self, but realizing there is no self, in any of us, in any being. There is the illusion of self, this is what the ego cannot let go of, this is why "no self" sounds counter-intuitive, but it is just an illusion. A trick of the mind.
Divine Linker I'm not the person to ask about these things, there is a lot more for me to learn about this topic. And honestly I haven't thought about it for as much as I should. Nonetheless you can do whatever you want, if you feel that keeping your ego is best for you then do it. Its not like I dont have an ego myself. But I feel like letting go will allow a person to learn with an open mind, and you will not be bound by an idea/stereotype which gives a person's mind complete freedom.
LivingEidolon if your beliefs inform your ego, and those beliefs can be wrong (but really re-enforced if it seems to be a safe option), then not all of you, as you know it, is true, you see? To find out what is real, questioning of your core beliefs needs to be done.
this made so much sense. outside the comfort zone, outside of preconceived ideas, i could have grown to be anybody on this planet, i am not defined, i can merge and adapt to any conditions other humans adapted to.
A few months into volunteering for hurricane Sandy relief, virtually overnight I felt like I had suddenly lost the capability to feel ego, envy, anger, fear or anxiety (which has held true for me thru today) and when I googled how I was feeling, the Buddhist level of Nirvana was the closest thing I found. :D #HappinessInGiving
I can rely so much to your comment ❤ i was wondering why i feel like evolving so much inside, it happens, i dont need to live through ego. I have the sensation my ego disapears. All i want is to be useful on earth❤
You can not kill something that does not exist. We are brought up with such voices in our head "ego" and ideas of making ourselves better. I really wish I would have been taught Buddhism and an alternate view of self as a child. It is very difficult to rethink the very thing that is thinking.
Why would such a highly intelligent conscious being sit on a rock all day? I think that we are still having a human experience even if we let go of "the self" there is no reason to stop engaging in activities that bring us happiness
Wait, did you mean to say that you '...never thought that my "self" could be taking my negative self image too seriously...', because that actually makes a lot of sense.
My interpretation of No-self is related to our transitiveness. There is nothing permanent about our existence, nor our thinking. To expect permanence is a fool's errand.
As the son of a retired emeritus Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest (and subsequently 2 Master's Degrees in Physchology), I believe we DO need our ego but not in the way ego is described. The Buddha, basically, said, "You're no better than anyone else." That's what ego-lessness means. It's truly important to have a sense of SELF. The self is what makes us strive for more. To be a better person, a better worker, a better parent, etc. All REQUIRES an ego. To put in its most simplistic terms....Kanye West has an ego so big he calls himself, God (far from it and how dare he). Thats the ego that Shakyamuni Buddha said to destroy. A parent has the healthy ego of, "I'm a great parent or I work hard to support my family." THAT...is a healthy ego.
Kevin, this is precisely how the ego is overcome; by realizing that you are not special because everyone is equally special. The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." And the ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth
@@tomrhodes1629 sounds like your ego needs work. Because you just, at length, tried to tell me why YOUR religion is better than mine AND you attempted to convert me which God ABSOLUTELY says you should NOT do. You just flashed your ego and didn't even know it. Thanks for shitting all over my faith. Now....GO F*** YOURSELF because I would NEVER shit on your faith. Have a blessed day.
There's a subtle difference between the relationship and the role, the parent that focuses on responsibility versus say love for the family. Also I would imagine it would be framed more as " I must take care of my family" rather than kind of a self-satisfied positive judgement of I am a good parent. I have also seen people take their parenthood seriously use it as one-upmanship against others, even in the context where that has no relevance so I don't think that works across the board without further qualification.
Just sounds like non-attachment and hubris. Much more damage is created from denying the ego through spiritual bypassing and all various misinterpretations of eastern philosophy. We'd be psychotic and unable to participate in the world without a solid sense of our abilities. It's usually these dissociated Karens and other know it all bullies that use this messaging to either shame people or enable their dissociation and being complicit in ignorant bullshit. Buddhism has clear rules and teacher. Commodified Western Buddhism + influencers just spread garbage teaching or their own delusions to vulnerable people. Sad to say despite knowing this I bought into some. Spiritual narcissism is pretty rife on youtube and sometimes the less overt ones speaking with quiet middle class detachment are the worst ones.
Eoo is choices of defensive mechanisms allowed based on our personal background and our environment. This can cause ignorance if we are not aware that the choices of defence mechanisms we have are limited by them. it is like dogs that never learn they csn eat fruits and vegetebles to live and starved themselves thinking hunting for meat is the only solutions. thr buddha foundation about egolessness is about not letting your past and your background to drive you to limited choices in life , because self is not fixed therefore we are free of prison and can choose how to feel and if u are smart u choose peace.
The Buddha's teaching is more than just ideas, theories, or some kind of philosophy. Only a great master like the Buddha Himself can lead us to the true depth of Buddhism. I wish for people to meet such a great master one day.
This author also used a metaphor in a book he wrote of feeling your way through a dark room or something akin to that idea. The relation to egoic patterns is a subtle thing. You have to disidentify without dissociating, to care for them, but not in an immediately obvious way, etc. The death of the ego to me means the death of the sense that the totality of egoic patterns defines who I am, in a sort of monolithic way the ego is an illusion .
Ego is what you choose to put in ( knowledge , life experiences, .... ) in order to affirm I am this one . Once you mixed knowledge , life experiences, .... in order just to live , you got it right .
This guy got it. However, the problem with Western civilization is that we are so fixated on our ego that for a more worldly view of acceptance and understanding, there does seem the need for a complete obliteration of the ego to find our trueselves and understand that consciousness is one across all. But this should only be done for self-realization (not get rid of the ego for the rest of your days) and then to use our ego in the real world to express kindness across all others. Jungian psychology makes more sense than Freuds.
What he meant was: Ego is not a thing you need to get rid of as many Buddhist says but to see the ego as something you can change the way you want it and work with it. Like it isn't such a big force you need to kill but rather something that is not that big of a deal and can be changed. What ever you see as your ego (yourself) isn't really that, you just like to believe it because it gives you stability but once you overcome the fear of let go some things you discover that there's an actual deeper you inside connected with everything in this universe and everything you thought you were (the way you dress, the way you speak, the job you have, the things you like) isn't necessarily real or as stable as you think and that's something good but only you can define exactly how it is good for you, is an individual experience.
Interesting that ego is the conscious, intellectual, thinking self, the left brain, that puts ourselves into a box. The soul, instinct is our original self from our ancestors - the calm, good, quiet self.
Personally I would disagree with your statements implication. At least how I see it. The ego Mark Epstein is talking about plays such an important role in what makes up who you are, that it's most likely one of the single most important things you care about. Though may not even realize it because the nature of the Ego is very subtle and complex.
I am what I like, what I dislike, what I did, do and plan to do, how I act and react, my past and my future, my wishes and desires. Without it I'm empty, just a living shell that tries to perpetuate its existence but will eventually fail, basically nothing more than an animal. Tryig to dismantle or to get rid of myself, my ego, is undesireable, because I'd rid myself from many things that make me human, an individual and my life worthwhile.
I agree, what you've said is mostly true, and I think that Mark Epstein and The Buddha would mostly agree with you too. Although I think they might say that your aren't any of things you think you are. They might say you aren't "a thing" at all, but more of a "something that is happening".
The ego by definition is the thing that perpetuates its existence because its very nature is to stay alive. It is the scared, selfish, and self-defeating thing. When the ego dissolves away from consciousness what can be left but a fearless, selfless, and enlightened thing?
More technological advancements dont mean you live a happy life 😂. Ego make your life unhappy, suffer , stress... technology can help you survive better, not live better 😂
I have come to realize that Buddhism is totally false. Also I’ve come to realize that the ego is something that should be embraced nurtured and put to the forefront If you want to be your truest self. Then you want to embrace the ego and make the ego stronger than ever. Because with a strong ego you are able to stand up for your own desires and for your own opinions. With a very strong ego you can own yourself. It is only with the strongest of you girls that you can declare that I have sole power over my personal experience. You can declare that I get to choose my desires and how I choose to live my life. That’s if you want to be the truest self in the most authentic self you must actually embrace the ego and put the ego to the front of everything else. Trying to eliminate the ego just turns you down to self-destruction
Buddhism isn't trying to eliminate the ego. "The Buddha never said to destroy the ego, trying to get rid of it is creating a new ego and a new form of grasping. The trick is to be aware of the ego and how it works."
Apart from the ego not existing, your "truest self" and "most authentic self" are also total nonsense. You are part of the world and inseperable from it, like every pebble and plant. Your behavior is totally determined by prior circumstances. All that you do and decide is perfectly continuous with the rest of physical interactions in the universe. Your worldview is just a stubborn insistance in remaining in total confusion.
first opening statement: "obviously we need our egos" -what you are trying to express is that you have an identity crisis and believe there is two of you when in reality there is only self as one conscious living being that delves in what could of been -feeding regret. over thinking due to not accepting or seeing self. even if it wasn't you and believe it was "your ego" that created the past events did it force you? jump out from behind your eyes and physically do it? no it was you that was there and created whatever effect it was that caused that "experience" - the sooner you stop delving into what was or could if been the sooner you will start to see that there is no other imaginary you and move on with your beautiful life within the confines of this realm
I've heard that Buddha came back from his ego death experience to share his enlightenment with others. He had to have an ego still too do so, but he knew what his ego was better than most
That's not the current Buddhist view at all. Enlightement is, at the very least, a stable insight into non-self. The entire point is that there was never an ego in the first place. Nothing dies. Nothing could come back.
When you overcome the ego, you become One with Christ- as Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") did. The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." And the ego is precisely what "Jesus Christ" overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth.
Hey Big Think- thanks for popping up the ads for your other vids just as he was making his point. Distracted me enough that I had to go back and watch the end again.
This made me think about a quote in the movie Chinatown. Noah Cross said “You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and right place, they're capable of anything.” As if true, it's all on you.
I like this take on it. There comes a line between what you can and can't really apply to your life, and a line between what's truly beneficial to apply and what isn't. Alot of these philosophies I believe to be ultimately counter productive, even if many of their claims are (as far as we can tell), true. You need to truly find a balance that you've really looked at from many different angles. In my opinion simplicity is very important. Getting tangled up in too much scienctific detail / philosophy can stear you away from what I imagine you were pursuing in the first place. Be honest with yourself about whether what you're applying truly is beneficial to your life.
Yes, Nick, complication is a mistake. Absolute Truth is extremely simple, and is obscured by complication. Because, when you try to use the intellect to understand the Absolute intellectually (which is impossible), you can't see the "forest" for the "trees." See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth if you want to be blown away by how simple absolute Truth is!
There are at least to issues here: (1) The first is that, in texts, "self" could refer to two phenomena. One of them exists while the other does not. At times, "self" refers to the person. The person exists conventionally. At other times, "self" refers to a mode of existence that we conceive of but that is utterly non-existent: inherent existence. (2) I have never seen the term "ego" in any traditional Buddhist text.
Anything that we believe is driven by ego. When I say ego, I don’t mean an inflated one, but just that simple sense of identity or conceptually concocted selfimage. We are looking for an identity through our particular experience and we want to feel special, or at minimum, feel distinct from others.
It is no wonder many roclaim their experience as the one that everyone should shoot for, or the one that has all the answers for humanity. I’m directing this teaching at all of us of course, but we can extrapolate and see that this is what a lot of individuals, channels, and entire faiths have done in the past. They have proclaimed their religion to be the correct one. They have jumped to conclusions in thought, based on their powerful, yet limited or narrow spiritual experiences. It is the same as someone loving a restaurant and proclaiming it the best and that everyone should love it. The one boasting may have only tried two things on the menu, and then extrapolates that everything there is the best, hands own! We can roll our eyes at such people when they are talking about their favourite food or rock band, but it can be intense when these people have influence and strong religious beliefs. Many sages, prophets and saviours are coming from very profound experiences and inner experiences. Some of these are permanent breakthroughs, we could say. These experiences remain in their hearts for the rest of their lifetimes, or can be recreated at will as a stable fixture in their lives. They then take this experience of truth to be the whole truth. When the ego takes this xperience as the whole truth, we then cut people and other religions out of our heart. We block ourself from the whole truth. We become segmented. We only see part of the truth and believe it is the whole truth. That’s where danger comes in, even though we don’t intend it as such. With ego, we have separation, and with separation omes disagreement, conflict and violence. Sometimes, the ego is very subtle. Some famous teachers can’t see that they still have a sense of self floating around. Many are aware that they are not their thoughts and body, yet, they hold to emptiness or consciousness as who they are instead. If there is any holding to or moving in and out of a preferable state, then the sense of self has not yet been washed away.
If ego is not "me", then what is? Without "me" in "me" human being is empty. Without ego human is only a mirror for World around him, an empty shell. Without " I " there's no "I think". There's no reasoning, logical thinking.
If there's no "you" then what's the point of living as a human? You actually are an inanimate matter, plant or an animal. Ego is necessary for conscious, valuable, happy life.
Well from a technical point of view, the Buddha taught that a person is composed of and defined by a variety of things. Overall your are made up of the Five Aggregates (or composite-components): Form (your physical body), Feeling (your five bodily senses), Perception (the capacity you have to know the difference between hot-cold, soft-hard, blue-red, etc.), Volitional Formations (or the ability to decide what you want to think, say, or do and then do it), and Consciousness (the capacity for self-awareness). The only thing that he never mentioned in this list is Atta (or your self). He taught that the idea of the "self" (or a permanent, essential, unchanging, solid, necessary part) was just that, and idea. The person you are is collection of things that constantly changes overtime. Having said that, you are correct, there is no "You". You are empty (of a self). Your ego is just like the rest of you, a process. You aren't "a thing" that is "here" right now. You are "something that is happening" right now. At the moment the "something that is happening" is seeing, feeling, smelling, thinking, planning, worrying, growing, moving, changing.
That's the thing, there is no point. That's the best part. Because there is no point, you get to choose what the point is. The thing is you aren't inanimate, because you have animation (meaning you can move). As far as the Buddha's teaching is concerned, you have the idea upside down. You have an ego (at least the idea of one) because you are conscious. Your mind doesn't come from your ideas, your ideas come from your mind. Value comes from you using your mind to learn what is valuable. A happy life comes from understanding that happiness isn't something you collect and then keep. It's understanding that happiness is something you do and keep doing. Just like you. You aren't "a thing", you are "something that is happening". :D
This statement from Descartes is very correct or very wrong, depending on how one defines the word "think." This is why one commenter says this is "wrong." The thoughts we have in this world are not truly thoughts, in the absolute respect, because they are LIMITED. And that which is limited is IRRATIONAL, which is why all the thoughts of this world (aside from thoughts of true love) are actually irrational ideas. However, Absolute Thought comprises your very BEING. Because, "GOD" is The Mind that is ALL, and you are a THOUGHT in that Mind. But we've lost Awareness - due to the factor that created the ego. And that factor is FEAR. The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." And the ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth.
Mr Feltcher Will Feltch Your Ass for Cash he was an accomplished professor and I couldnt see your accusation holding any grounds with his stable words and mind. I dont really care either if it was true, he carried minds to meaningful realms of thinking, even if he just had a swig.
But the concept fails. As wise as he was he still had desires. Getting drunk was certainly one of them. I think that's what Mr Feltcher is pointing out. How would you drop all desires? I think a better way to look at it is to not be controlled by those desires, by the ego.
zoorrken he was an accomplished philosopher AND mastered theology, so why and how can you claim he was a 'drunk'??? "You desire to be desireless" a direct quote he uses from Bhudda himself.
I believe I've heard him say himself in some video that he enjoys the alcohol but I could be wrong. I see your point, but i don't see how that desire alone will make any difference? Also I don't deny any of those things you said, he was a great philosopher. What if Bhuddas real desire was to be seen as this man without any desire.... ☺
zoorrken so lets try to stick with our motto 'land of the free', as in even if someone indulges in what have you, doesnt require instant criticism, nor does it mean he cannot be intoxicated. The Nazi's aimed for this type of society, a "pure breed", its not anyones call who consumes what unless you wanna ride the same notion as WW2 perpetrators. Really you should try it, and you'll find out what it does. Like I stated, it clears up those thoughts, in turn allows you to think about meaning rather than what you want to make that meaning(in life). He is precise in all his courses, which he was fancy enough to record his lectures until the internet gave us this great treasure.
I like the way ideas of things like Buddhism are allowed to be interpreted and flexible and Freud, who often changed his ideas and even recognised his own mistakes, is treated as some fixed literal set of outdated beliefs. Orientalism in action.
The Buddha considered the ego all of the person. Freud considered the ego part of the person. It wasn't the same word or concept. It was close. The buddha taught to reunite with source by dissolving all of what a person is. The ego.
It's not just that we get rid of the self entirely. It's that we see that it has never been there in the first place. It's way more radical than this professor makes it out to be.
Fine. But I don't like this typical mantra about how the ego is created by the "intellect". That's not all there's to it. We also have a visceral sense of ego. When something threatens you physically, like a dangerous looking person, a snake or an impending car accident, you feel threatened in your body, all the way down to your bones. That's not just the intellect saying "oh, my existence as a person is at risk, I must reinforce this illusion". It's really an instinctive ego
There is a person, there is a monkey that has your name and that mates and avoids predators and other dangers. The problem is the identification with that monkey.
@@studentofspacetime It's very subtle. I think the illusion of the self is created when in retrospect on actions or perceptions a character is inserted that acts or perceives. When people report on seeing an object, they really think that the experience of seeing had a dualistic character of an object of perception coming into contact with an observer. When really there was only the object appearing in consciousness.
Right. When Buddhism teaches for example that the world is an illusion, it does not mean that it is not real, rather it means that it is not what it seems on the surface or over a short period of time. Buddhism is about awakening to the assumptions that we make about ourselves and the world and seeing beyond the transient nature of reality and the conflicted state that we are in because we cant see the big picture, and that is what causes our suffering. Buddhism should not be seen as an escape from reality by means of meditation or some altered state of consciousness but rather total engagement with everything we are doing at all times, in the moment as a means of being whole and authentic.. No escapism or nihilism here, just the opposite. This is Zen. The way of being..
This is interesting but, it's basically what Socrates said about "knowing thyself", I mean in his philosophy we never finish understanding who we were so our life was an exploration of ourselves
I agree that it is somewhat similar to what Socrates said, but I don't think its basically the same. Socrates seems to have engaged in the pursuit of wisdom for the love wisdom itself. The Buddha taught that in the end his philosophy (which he personally described as "The Doctrine and Discipline") was a tool that was to be used and then eventually discarded. While we may never out grow the use of Socrates's teachings, we are expect to eventually out grow the Buddha's.
Why should you always take it back to some western philosopher? Because the Buddha actually came before Socrates and there were Indo-Greek kingdoms between India and Greece that could have literally trasferred buddhist ideas to Greece! Here is a picture of Hercules defending the Buddha: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Buddha-Herakles.JPG
Generally people reject solipsism because of inference from observation. Those observations lead us to think that other people are independent beings like us. It’s much more likely than the suggestion that they are imagined and it’s also what they will tell you if you ask them.
The ego is the dark companion of the soul. Your personal demon. It expresses outwardly what your soul feels inside. You can't have one without the other. They are yin and yang. Most people fight themselves but if they embraced their egos, they would have a powerful friend.
The ego is empty of permanence and independent existence. It's constantly in flux and is one with everything else, so holding on to it tightly makes no sense. It's like grasping water with your hands.
The thing is about you, is that the you that you think you are is just a bundle of thoughts, ideas and opinions. Let all those things go, and what do you have left?
No one is asking you to let go of those things. Buddha certainly didn't teach that. He taught us that if we want to stop suffering, we must stop being obsessed about the Self, because there is nothing permanent about it ...
as a bhudist, we don't say we need to take rid of our egos, but that we shall not let our ego control our mind. there is the difference, we have to know our egos are just an illusion that there is ourself, when you discover there is no such thing, that there is no difference between you and the others, then you have the control over the things that happen.
Ego is the identification of consciousness as "me" with an idea, image, thought, sensation, etc. Ego is a convenient vehicle for consciousness to operate in this world.
I conceive of the word 'ego' as a homonym. Buddha seems to be talking about an entire sense of 'self', where I believe Freud used it to refer to what we now might call the Paleo-mammalian Cortex, the Ego "me and my own" the Id "pure desire" the Superego "the community, higher consciousness, prefrontal cortex."
What is the “person” or “self” or “ego” or “soul” made of? Where is it? Well simply it isnt there. The only thing that is there are the atoms that make up an organism which you call “yourself”. But there is no “soul” inside it controlling it. The only thing controlling the atoms behaviour is the laws of physics and chemistry, nothing else. The “you” that you think is in control of your thoughts and your feelings and your emotions simply doesnt exist. For example, you see a bear, your brain responds with fear, and responds by making your legs move and making you run away. You think there is a “controller” of your brain making decisions whether to run or not but there isnt, neuroscience keeps showing evidence that free will does not exist. Ok then you say i am not a soul but i am my atoms. Well you arent because roughly every seven years every single atom in your body is different. Every single day atoms in your body are replaced by food you have eaten and drink you have drank and air you have breathed. So you arent even the atoms. You arent anything. You are just the same brain structure. But even over time that changes. That is why you are a different character when you are 7 as when you are 25 as when you are 75. Yes you feel you are the same person as you remember being the same person but you may have many new personality traits. The real you is the universe being aware of itself. You are atoms, being aware that they are atoms. You are something the whole universe is doing in the same way a wave is something that the whole ocean is doing. You are more like a that is completely governed by the laws of physics at all times, 100% acting under the laws of nature and programmed how to act, only it doesnt feel that way at all, there is an illusory feeling of free will. But there isnt. You are as much a form of nature as a cloud, a tree a rock, a planet, a star, a waterfall. You are the universe, and we are all that, the real “you” is the laws of physics that is what does your behaviour
markdelej The thing is that in my life I don’t have very many moments where I’m reacting to something like running in fear but instead having many different possibilities on what to do next; so using my atoms and neurological connections I see my “self” and am aware of my consciousness. There is no definable existence of my spiritual existence but I have something that makes me feel like I have a spirit that lets me go beyond only existing within the realm of physics. For us all we have the ability exist as souls and have our own separate spirits.
Dylan W there is no evidence for a soul. It is a feeling. I can feel the world is flat but so what? It is not, it is a sphere. I can feel anything i want, but so what. The only thing we can go by is experiment, and what nature tells and evidence. We follow the evidence and then we get to the right answers. I can never prove there is no soul, just as i cant prove santa doesnt exist but there is no evidence for either, and not only that there is plenty of evidence to suggest both dont exist as we know where santa cant live and we know he would have to break the speed of light to deliver all the presents which is physically impossible, with the soul we know what it isnt made of, we know it cant move atoms around or interact with them as then it would be a measurable thing with a detector made from atoms. Therefore the evidence suggests a soul does not exist. I’m not saying it definitely 100% doesnt, but i’m saying the evidence suggests it doesnt and never was there evidence for one that was confirmed scientifically. Therefore it is just irrational to believe in one
blank awx thanks, once you realise there is no self then you will have no further problems. The “you” who had all the problems doesnt exist so then all the problems of pain and suffering simply dont exist either. Good luck!
The ego is an illusion of the self, like self-importantce, competitiveness, jealousy... so in some way we could say it is "demonic" because even if it is common, it does not prompt people to bring love and harmony, but quite the opposite: resentment, disrespect, etc. So I understand why Budda would consider ego a bad thing and decide that the way was to slowly get rid of it to ascend. Can you succeed without ego? Well, those who are given higher positions are often giving and fair. Note that I said, are given; I know a case in education; an efficient but also kind and giving teacher was offered a very coveted position as he had met someone who was about to retire and thought of him, as he liked the type of person that this teacher was. True leaders are humble. "Climbing the ladder" while stepping on others and being a disrespectful fake person can take the worker only so far until they go back to square one.
At first, true to be gold, I am absolutely Buddhism.For the time being,I genuinely believe in Buddhism,yet not all the time.Buddhism is not a religion what we cannot learn from books .It is the one who need to find the truth on your own. Lord Buddha just directs us the way of how we can find the truth.I don’t want to say Buddhism is the truthful religion, but I cannot critique the Buddhism just read books.
What are you trying to say of course ego in everyone's consciousness but you have to understand getting rid of ego makes you happy makes you to live peacefully that's what the Buddhism preach you..
Transcription : Obviously we need our ego. Of course you are real, you have a self, but you are not "really real". That belief is misguided, we take ourselves more seriously than we need to. The self is not as fix as we'd like to think. The ego is born out of fear and isolation, it comes into being when self consiousness starts to come, when you're 2 or 3 years old, when starting to make sense out of everything "who am I? Who are these parents?". The ego is a way of organizing oneself, it comes from the intellect as the line starts to click in. For many people it stays in an immature place where our thinking mind is defining for ourselves who we are taking either all the negative feedback (all the negativity) or the positive, the affirmation. And the ego likes certainty, security, repetition; so it's always reinforcing its own vision of itself. It starts to restrict us, to confine us, to make us think that we know ourselves better than we actually do. To bring Buddhism into therapy to a secular audience, it is to gently bring doubt to the ego, maybe you don't know yourself as much as you think you do. Maybe those fixed ideas that were operating inside of you since you were a little kid and conditioning the way you interact with the world are not all so right.
@@ZakeBudek When a biologist explains evolution to you and you ask "where is the evolutioner" or a physicist explains heat and you ask "where is the one making heat", then you simply haven't paid attention. The entire point is that no self is required for decisions. In fact no self can even in principle fit anywhere in the process of a decision being made.
@@ggstylz inflation is definitely a problem. Along with killing your ego. The ego is there to perform and navigate through everyday life, killing your ego will destroy the structure in which your self-concept lies in. After you do that you can’t tell the difference between what’s real to you and what’s not because “you” don’t exist. When this happen, unconscious contents start to appear but without the guidance of your ego it can take a mental toll on you such as psychosis and schizophrenia. Deflate your ego, but keep it strong 💪
The ego needs to be seen for what it is, and then it will eventually be abandoned by you. The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." And the ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth
@@tuwheratiaihaka2744 There is nothing to keep strong. This self that you think does stuff is already not there. It's a character in retrospective thoughts.
How can we be aware and moderate how ego impacts us and live a well balanced, content, well served life ? I like this topic, but how can this knowledge be applied to make life better? I believe there are moments when ego needs to be fully utilised to achieve greater life, however there are moments when it has to be relatively silenced to keep us in check, do you agree?
I agree. it is not black/white : Ego is good, ego is bad. no, ego is sometimes good, it's sometimes bad. but you cannot delete it, how so many people in this comment section say. If someone ends up tricking themselves that they do not have an ego anymore, they are slowly but steadily approaching mental illness.
Good observation. As a prophet of God, I can tell you that Donald Trump serves as a perfect example of pure ego. And this is what an "anti-Christ" is: one who is totally possessed by the ego. The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world." And the ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth
So Buddhism is saying that one's way of interpreting and navigating the world is not as fixed as one might believe it to be? Sounds rather straight forward. I think the key issue is that we over identify with who we are within a particular moment and we fail to see ourselves as continuously transforming beings. We seem to be even more oblivious to what causes these transformations and how to take advantage of these processes.
I enjoy security like any other person, however..... I perform better in the rough waters of the ocean. That is my mistress. To put myself out there and see something in the eyes of another. To have a great understanding than which that is my own. Security is nice, but realizations about oneself and beyond is even better I believe.
Sooo....ego is like an avatar in a video game, u can change charachters that fits a certain challenge anytime u like, but the game is in a much advanced level, like the matrix movie or like virtual reality games and the goal is not fighting or riding a car but to collect data of life? ...am so confused someone help me here!
Well, The reason why I study Buddhism is because it is not a religion, but a philosophy of life, which gives me the tool of reflection, so that I can take responsibility for my thoughts and actions and learn from them. which gave me a collateral benefit like; live without fear and with an adult/conscious mind. 🍃
If consciousness is a feedback loop of information flowing through energy and matter across spacetime the ego can be looked at in a similar light to a garden's relationship between nature and nurture, tend to a garden and you may build something beautiful with time but just like death a perfect storm can wash everything away in an instant. In an empty field where a garden once stood you are left with a blank slate with the opportunity to build something anew, maybe something different that makes sense just for you or perhaps another garden with a twist to make it feel new. At the scale of humanity to say that we die may ring true but at the scale of the universe when what was once you is no longer you the observer that we were goes back to the place where it existed before you entered the feedback loop of your life to begin with: the void. From nothing in a place that does not exist at a time that never passed the universe found a way to draw your attention and set forth a "you" onto a life path. If the universe was clever enough to do this once, is it clever enough to do it again? Death may be the one thing that we all share but if consciousness is a feedback loop then death is just one of the things that separates the continuity of our experiences from each other and like the shadows of Plato's cave the thin sheet of reality that we live on may only be a part of a more complex system that exists in higher dimensions.
This only something people who belong to the norm can even discuss because they are unaware of the consequences of having a weak ego or none at all. Essentially its taken for granted. Where do people think many of our motivations come from? Not to mention its a central part in our communication skills. If you have no center self, then it causes a whole host of different issues.
True, but if I understand what you are implying (I may not, correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think Mark Epstein was talking about doing away with the Ego. I think he was just trying to clarify what the Buddhist perspective is on the Ego and the nature of "The Self".
there’s a presupposition made in your statement that assumes what the ego is, and how it works, it’s very well possible that the ego is not just a localised point of reference for consciousness to express itself as an individual but is indeed a set of contradicting psychological aggregates composed of the 7 capital sins and that what’s beneath that is a true essence or what buddhist refer to as atman
No one has any ego at all. It's a misapprehension. Like an optical illusion. You can be taken in by the illusion more or less often, but you can't have more or less of it. Pride and hatred are powerful motivators, but are they really worth living in delusion?
You create your reality. Your personal idea that you *are* your personality traits or you *are* a mother or a father, are merely titles or labels that are taken, accepted and used as a sort of modality of expression in which you exist as this label and function as what you think you are. Genuine self introspection expands these ideas, which in turn expand your understandings of self, thusly allowing more freedom/choice in every moment. You are not merely an accountant. You are all, in a sense.
You clearly need an ego. You just do not have to hold on to it. At least, be aware that the ego is completely made up by your mind. And whatever you do, do not mistake your ego for who you really are. Your ego tells you that you have a name, desires, traits, basically it makes you focus on yourself and that is why ego is always associated with narcissism. Whereas, if you look into who you really are, you will find that you are just another human with an ego living on this planet which is floating in this dark, cold, silent, and empty universe.
Good topic but he needs to explain first how and why Buddha said about Egoless. Ego means soul. In the Vedic age, Hindu philosophers used to think (even today) that living beings have soul and because of soul human-beings experience through sensual organs. The Hindus belied that soul is immortal and change the body as we change our clothes. Buddha said no, there is no soul or no ego, ego is illusion because of our contacts between 6 sensual organs, 6 consciousness and 6 objects (like visual, sounds, taste, smell, touch, and thoughts). When these 6x3=18 faculties conditioned to contact then human being feels ego (self or soul). It is illusion like when we feel moving but other train moves. Nikola Testa appreciated this idea of Buddha, and even Sam Harris has tried to explain it!
It all depends on the use of the word ego. In Buddhism there is no ego noself period. In Hinduism there is the Atman the true self but the ego is the false idea we have of ourselves and that is based on our misconceptions. In Christianity it is similar to the Hindu idea of there being a permanent self or ego. I think Freuds use of the term is used to describe the balancing aspect of our personality that mediates between our primal desires the id and our higher ideals the super ego. I don't think they are really comparable.
We are an ego, it's just that our ego is subjected to the nature of the present time, which is continuous, that's why, when we think about it, we can only think about things that have already happened. That's also why, if we want to strive to be a better person, in order to continue improving ourselves, that we have to take into account that knowledge evolves: even certain Buddha's teachings don't make sense anymore to us, sons of the 20th and 21st centuries, to create harmonious lives. After all, although he has been an exceptional human being philosophically wise, he is a son of his time, which happened already 2500 years ago. :) Thank you Buddha, we remmember what you did, we think about the teachings we remmember from you, we see if they are all still valid to help creating a harmonious life and, in case of need, we adapt Buddhism to our time, and we keep going towards the best version of us that we can achieve.
I just wish i could live without feeling like I might have an anxiety attack at any moment. Mushrooms really helped me realise that we all have a mental wall put up 24/7 , to protect ourselves from all the bad vibes and negative things all around us. But those "walls" make us limited in ways i cant explain or understand fully.
Thought the video was gonna talk about like... Ego and happiness that sort of thing, like.... Erasing the pain of desiring something couldn't get for being happy that kind of thing, but the real video gets all scientific, and knowledge-sending
Self image is a Left-brain function, creator of our World-of-Things, self included; in contrast to a Right-brain experience of participating in the Whole of existence! Again, what we need, continually, is our Right-brain leading, working collaboratively with Mr. Lefty, to continue our Journey to the Stars!!!
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I like what Alan Watts said about the ego.
"The ego is nothing other than the focus of conscious attention"
I'd say the ego is nothing other than the focus of conscious attention on one's self and believing you are better, more deserving or more in need than others by comparison.
Alan Watts is fantastic. He espoused absolute truths correctly, and he lacked only one piece of information, which reveals the reason why we are experiencing this world of limitation and the ego. (And I say this as a fully-educated prophet of God.)
This video is correct, as far as it goes. Want to know more? The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." The ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth
But a person cannot stop focusing there attention.
Forte , fortissimoA.Watts
@@christiansamaroo a person can't start focusing their attention either. It just happens.
"We need our egos"! says the ego.
"We need to let go of our ego" says the ego.
Touche
Ego want to manipulate us how to become mental.. either way, if we ignore it... ego become mad as hell, lol . Just take a look around... many things is totally chaos.. chaos by who? People? Yeah people but first who? EGO...
Can someone explain to me what the ego is in a simple way?
True true
Buddhism is not about getting rid of the self, but realizing there is no self, in any of us, in any being. There is the illusion of self, this is what the ego cannot let go of, this is why "no self" sounds counter-intuitive, but it is just an illusion. A trick of the mind.
"No self" sounds good to me. To let go of who you think you are and who others think you are and just be.
Lynora Kajoja What if i dont want to let go of my ego. Am i allowed to "just be" then?
Divine Linker I'm not the person to ask about these things, there is a lot more for me to learn about this topic. And honestly I haven't thought about it for as much as I should.
Nonetheless you can do whatever you want, if you feel that keeping your ego is best for you then do it. Its not like I dont have an ego myself. But I feel like letting go will allow a person to learn with an open mind, and you will not be bound by an idea/stereotype which gives a person's mind complete freedom.
Lynora Kajoja how do i learn do drop my ego.
blank awx drop a tab of acid and boy you’ll lose every inch of your ego
This video proves to me that no one really understands ego but everyone knows they don't like egotistical people.
So basically, you're real, but that's not as big a deal as you make it out to be
There is no shortage of humans.
LivingEidolon if your beliefs inform your ego, and those beliefs can be wrong (but really re-enforced if it seems to be a safe option), then not all of you, as you know it, is true, you see? To find out what is real, questioning of your core beliefs needs to be done.
laoch33 AKA DoDo I think you've gotta question more than that if you wanna find one thing that is real
Maybe something more like yes-- you are real, but let's think a little more about what that even means.
Exactly
The ego is an excellent servant, but a terrible master.
this made so much sense. outside the comfort zone, outside of preconceived ideas, i could have grown to be anybody on this planet, i am not defined, i can merge and adapt to any conditions other humans adapted to.
Exactly
Infantile megalomania
no limits!
A few months into volunteering for hurricane Sandy relief, virtually overnight I felt like I had suddenly lost the capability to feel ego, envy, anger, fear or anxiety (which has held true for me thru today) and when I googled how I was feeling, the Buddhist level of Nirvana was the closest thing I found. :D #HappinessInGiving
Of course, helping other people is a good way to forget about yourself.
I can rely so much to your comment ❤ i was wondering why i feel like evolving so much inside, it happens, i dont need to live through ego. I have the sensation my ego disapears. All i want is to be useful on earth❤
You can not kill something that does not exist. We are brought up with such voices in our head "ego" and ideas of making ourselves better. I really wish I would have been taught Buddhism and an alternate view of self as a child. It is very difficult to rethink the very thing that is thinking.
Completely agree
You can not exist without ego. What is left ? Only Conciousness. So you would only sit on a stone all day
Why would such a highly intelligent conscious being sit on a rock all day? I think that we are still having a human experience even if we let go of "the self" there is no reason to stop engaging in activities that bring us happiness
@@l.s9148.
I had never thought that my negative self image could be me taking myself too seriously before. Thanks.
Wait, did you mean to say that you '...never thought that my "self" could be taking my negative self image too seriously...', because that actually makes a lot of sense.
I'm sure I meant something like that.
My interpretation of No-self is related to our transitiveness. There is nothing permanent about our existence, nor our thinking. To expect permanence is a fool's errand.
As the son of a retired emeritus Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest (and subsequently 2 Master's Degrees in Physchology), I believe we DO need our ego but not in the way ego is described. The Buddha, basically, said, "You're no better than anyone else." That's what ego-lessness means. It's truly important to have a sense of SELF. The self is what makes us strive for more. To be a better person, a better worker, a better parent, etc. All REQUIRES an ego.
To put in its most simplistic terms....Kanye West has an ego so big he calls himself, God (far from it and how dare he). Thats the ego that Shakyamuni Buddha said to destroy.
A parent has the healthy ego of, "I'm a great parent or I work hard to support my family." THAT...is a healthy ego.
Kevin, this is precisely how the ego is overcome; by realizing that you are not special because everyone is equally special. The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." And the ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth
@@tomrhodes1629 sounds like your ego needs work. Because you just, at length, tried to tell me why YOUR religion is better than mine AND you attempted to convert me which God ABSOLUTELY says you should NOT do.
You just flashed your ego and didn't even know it.
Thanks for shitting all over my faith. Now....GO F*** YOURSELF because I would NEVER shit on your faith.
Have a blessed day.
There's a subtle difference between the relationship and the role, the parent that focuses on responsibility versus say love for the family. Also I would imagine it would be framed more as " I must take care of my family" rather than kind of a self-satisfied positive judgement of I am a good parent. I have also seen people take their parenthood seriously use it as one-upmanship against others, even in the context where that has no relevance so I don't think that works across the board without further qualification.
Just sounds like non-attachment and hubris. Much more damage is created from denying the ego through spiritual bypassing and all various misinterpretations of eastern philosophy. We'd be psychotic and unable to participate in the world without a solid sense of our abilities. It's usually these dissociated Karens and other know it all bullies that use this messaging to either shame people or enable their dissociation and being complicit in ignorant bullshit. Buddhism has clear rules and teacher. Commodified Western Buddhism + influencers just spread garbage teaching or their own delusions to vulnerable people. Sad to say despite knowing this I bought into some. Spiritual narcissism is pretty rife on youtube and sometimes the less overt ones speaking with quiet middle class detachment are the worst ones.
thats subjective
Eoo is choices of defensive mechanisms allowed based on our personal background and our environment. This can cause ignorance if we are not aware that the choices of defence mechanisms we have are limited by them. it is like dogs that never learn they csn eat fruits and vegetebles to live and starved themselves thinking hunting for meat is the only solutions.
thr buddha foundation about egolessness is about not letting your past and your background to drive you to limited choices in life , because self is not fixed therefore we are free of prison and can choose how to feel and if u are smart u choose peace.
The Buddha's teaching is more than just ideas, theories, or some kind of philosophy. Only a great master like the Buddha Himself can lead us to the true depth of Buddhism. I wish for people to meet such a great master one day.
i think there is difderence between ego and self respect
Buddhism is all about Honesty, compassion, kindness generosity and skepticism.
That not true
This author also used a metaphor in a book he wrote of feeling your way through a dark room or something akin to that idea. The relation to egoic patterns is a subtle thing. You have to disidentify without dissociating, to care for them, but not in an immediately obvious way, etc. The death of the ego to me means the death of the sense that the totality of egoic patterns defines who I am, in a sort of monolithic way the ego is an illusion .
The line "you have to disidentify without dissociating" really resonated with me, thanks.
Ego is what you choose to put in ( knowledge , life experiences, .... ) in order to affirm I am this one . Once you mixed knowledge , life experiences, .... in order just to live , you got it right .
This guy got it. However, the problem with Western civilization is that we are so fixated on our ego that for a more worldly view of acceptance and understanding, there does seem the need for a complete obliteration of the ego to find our trueselves and understand that consciousness is one across all. But this should only be done for self-realization (not get rid of the ego for the rest of your days) and then to use our ego in the real world to express kindness across all others. Jungian psychology makes more sense than Freuds.
What he meant was: Ego is not a thing you need to get rid of as many Buddhist says but to see the ego as something you can change the way you want it and work with it. Like it isn't such a big force you need to kill but rather something that is not that big of a deal and can be changed. What ever you see as your ego (yourself) isn't really that, you just like to believe it because it gives you stability but once you overcome the fear of let go some things you discover that there's an actual deeper you inside connected with everything in this universe and everything you thought you were (the way you dress, the way you speak, the job you have, the things you like) isn't necessarily real or as stable as you think and that's something good but only you can define exactly how it is good for you, is an individual experience.
Interesting that ego is the conscious, intellectual, thinking self, the left brain, that puts ourselves into a box. The soul, instinct is our original self from our ancestors - the calm, good, quiet self.
I don't care about my Ego enough, to invest so much thought in letting it go.....
Personally I would disagree with your statements implication. At least how I see it. The ego Mark Epstein is talking about plays such an important role in what makes up who you are, that it's most likely one of the single most important things you care about. Though may not even realize it because the nature of the Ego is very subtle and complex.
This is an Expedient Truth! In The Ultimate Truth there is no Ego, there is no mind at any form.
I am what I like, what I dislike, what I did, do and plan to do, how I act and react, my past and my future, my wishes and desires. Without it I'm empty, just a living shell that tries to perpetuate its existence but will eventually fail, basically nothing more than an animal. Tryig to dismantle or to get rid of myself, my ego, is undesireable, because I'd rid myself from many things that make me human, an individual and my life worthwhile.
I agree, what you've said is mostly true, and I think that Mark Epstein and The Buddha would mostly agree with you too. Although I think they might say that your aren't any of things you think you are. They might say you aren't "a thing" at all, but more of a "something that is happening".
If I were you ask you where "you" ended - *could* you *show* me?
I suppose, but it would depend on what you mean by "me".
The ego by definition is the thing that perpetuates its existence because its very nature is to stay alive. It is the scared, selfish, and self-defeating thing.
When the ego dissolves away from consciousness what can be left but a fearless, selfless, and enlightened thing?
I hope you realize that happiness, creativity, and transendent (beyond animal) occurances are all when the ego is weakened or gone.
From ego came wars and from wars came all the technological advancements that we have today...
More technological advancements dont mean you live a happy life 😂. Ego make your life unhappy, suffer , stress... technology can help you survive better, not live better 😂
I have come to realize that Buddhism is totally false. Also I’ve come to realize that the ego is something that should be embraced nurtured and put to the forefront
If you want to be your truest self. Then you want to embrace the ego and make the ego stronger than ever.
Because with a strong ego you are able to stand up for your own desires and for your own opinions. With a very strong ego you can own yourself.
It is only with the strongest of you girls that you can declare that I have sole power over my personal experience. You can declare that I get to choose my desires and how I choose to live my life.
That’s if you want to be the truest self in the most authentic self you must actually embrace the ego and put the ego to the front of everything else. Trying to eliminate the ego just turns you down to self-destruction
I thought I was the only one with thought ....
A big fucking YES to that my man !!
Buddhism isn't trying to eliminate the ego. "The Buddha never said to destroy the ego, trying to get rid of it is creating a new ego and a new form of grasping. The trick is to be aware of the ego and how it works."
Mark, you clearly understand nothing about Buddhism. This is only because of a Lack of Knowledge about the Subject Matter ...
This strategy is fine according to Buddhism..
But don't be fettered into This strategy.. just keep it as external strategy
Apart from the ego not existing, your "truest self" and "most authentic self" are also total nonsense. You are part of the world and inseperable from it, like every pebble and plant. Your behavior is totally determined by prior circumstances. All that you do and decide is perfectly continuous with the rest of physical interactions in the universe.
Your worldview is just a stubborn insistance in remaining in total confusion.
first opening statement: "obviously we need our egos" -what you are trying to express is that you have an identity crisis and believe there is two of you when in reality there is only self as one conscious living being that delves in what could of been -feeding regret. over thinking due to not accepting or seeing self. even if it wasn't you and believe it was "your ego" that created the past events did it force you? jump out from behind your eyes and physically do it? no it was you that was there and created whatever effect it was that caused that "experience" - the sooner you stop delving into what was or could if been the sooner you will start to see that there is no other imaginary you and move on with your beautiful life within the confines of this realm
I've heard that Buddha came back from his ego death experience to share his enlightenment with others. He had to have an ego still too do so, but he knew what his ego was better than most
That's not the current Buddhist view at all. Enlightement is, at the very least, a stable insight into non-self.
The entire point is that there was never an ego in the first place. Nothing dies. Nothing could come back.
The ego gets us to a point where we realize we don’t NEED it anymore...and even in that there’s still ego. ✌️
When you overcome the ego, you become One with Christ- as Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") did.
The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." And the ego is precisely what "Jesus Christ" overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth.
Hey Big Think- thanks for popping up the ads for your other vids just as he was making his point. Distracted me enough that I had to go back and watch the end again.
This made me think about a quote in the movie Chinatown. Noah Cross said “You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and right place, they're capable of anything.” As if true, it's all on you.
I like this take on it. There comes a line between what you can and can't really apply to your life, and a line between what's truly beneficial to apply and what isn't. Alot of these philosophies I believe to be ultimately counter productive, even if many of their claims are (as far as we can tell), true. You need to truly find a balance that you've really looked at from many different angles. In my opinion simplicity is very important. Getting tangled up in too much scienctific detail / philosophy can stear you away from what I imagine you were pursuing in the first place. Be honest with yourself about whether what you're applying truly is beneficial to your life.
Yes, Nick, complication is a mistake. Absolute Truth is extremely simple, and is obscured by complication. Because, when you try to use the intellect to understand the Absolute intellectually (which is impossible), you can't see the "forest" for the "trees." See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth if you want to be blown away by how simple absolute Truth is!
I can never get enough of these videos.
More to come, daily, Christian!
There are at least to issues here:
(1) The first is that, in texts, "self" could refer to two phenomena. One of them exists while the other does not. At times, "self" refers to the person. The person exists conventionally. At other times, "self" refers to a mode of existence that we conceive of but that is utterly non-existent: inherent existence.
(2) I have never seen the term "ego" in any traditional Buddhist text.
Anything that we believe is driven by ego. When I say ego, I don’t mean an inflated one, but just that simple sense of identity or conceptually concocted selfimage. We are looking for an identity through our particular experience and we want to feel special, or at minimum, feel distinct from others.
It is no wonder many roclaim their experience as the one that everyone should shoot for, or the one that has all the answers for humanity. I’m directing this teaching at all of us of course, but we can extrapolate and see that this is what a lot of individuals, channels, and entire faiths have done in the past. They have proclaimed their religion to be the correct one. They have jumped to conclusions in thought, based on their powerful, yet limited or narrow spiritual experiences. It is the same as someone loving a restaurant and proclaiming it the best and that everyone should love it. The one boasting may have only tried two things on the menu, and then extrapolates that everything there is the best, hands own! We can roll our eyes at such people when they are talking about their favourite food or rock band, but it can be intense when these people have influence and strong religious beliefs. Many sages, prophets and saviours are coming from very profound experiences and inner experiences. Some of these are permanent breakthroughs, we could say. These experiences remain in their hearts for the rest of their lifetimes, or can be recreated at will as a stable fixture in their lives. They then take this experience of truth to be the whole truth. When the ego takes this xperience as the whole truth, we then cut people and other religions out of our heart. We block ourself from the whole truth. We become segmented. We only see part of the truth and believe it is the whole truth. That’s where danger comes in, even though we don’t intend it as such. With ego, we have separation, and with separation omes disagreement, conflict and violence. Sometimes, the ego is very subtle. Some famous teachers can’t see that they still have a sense of self floating around. Many are aware that they are not their thoughts and body, yet, they hold to emptiness or consciousness as who they are instead. If there is any holding to or moving in and out of a preferable state, then the sense of self has not yet been washed away.
The ego by nature is inflated
If ego is not "me", then what is? Without "me" in "me" human being is empty. Without ego human is only a mirror for World around him, an empty shell. Without " I " there's no "I think". There's no reasoning, logical thinking.
koltci there is no “you”, that feeling of self is an illusion
If there's no "you" then what's the point of living as a human? You actually are an inanimate matter, plant or an animal. Ego is necessary for conscious, valuable, happy life.
How do you know ego is NECESSARY for a happy life if all you know is ego?
Well from a technical point of view, the Buddha taught that a person is composed of and defined by a variety of things. Overall your are made up of the Five Aggregates (or composite-components): Form (your physical body), Feeling (your five bodily senses), Perception (the capacity you have to know the difference between hot-cold, soft-hard, blue-red, etc.), Volitional Formations (or the ability to decide what you want to think, say, or do and then do it), and Consciousness (the capacity for self-awareness). The only thing that he never mentioned in this list is Atta (or your self). He taught that the idea of the "self" (or a permanent, essential, unchanging, solid, necessary part) was just that, and idea. The person you are is collection of things that constantly changes overtime.
Having said that, you are correct, there is no "You". You are empty (of a self). Your ego is just like the rest of you, a process. You aren't "a thing" that is "here" right now. You are "something that is happening" right now. At the moment the "something that is happening" is seeing, feeling, smelling, thinking, planning, worrying, growing, moving, changing.
That's the thing, there is no point. That's the best part. Because there is no point, you get to choose what the point is. The thing is you aren't inanimate, because you have animation (meaning you can move). As far as the Buddha's teaching is concerned, you have the idea upside down. You have an ego (at least the idea of one) because you are conscious. Your mind doesn't come from your ideas, your ideas come from your mind. Value comes from you using your mind to learn what is valuable. A happy life comes from understanding that happiness isn't something you collect and then keep. It's understanding that happiness is something you do and keep doing. Just like you. You aren't "a thing", you are "something that is happening". :D
"I think, therefore, I am" - Descartes
Wrong
true that 's why i stopped "thinking " lol
This statement from Descartes is very correct or very wrong, depending on how one defines the word "think." This is why one commenter says this is "wrong."
The thoughts we have in this world are not truly thoughts, in the absolute respect, because they are LIMITED. And that which is limited is IRRATIONAL, which is why all the thoughts of this world (aside from thoughts of true love) are actually irrational ideas. However, Absolute Thought comprises your very BEING. Because, "GOD" is The Mind that is ALL, and you are a THOUGHT in that Mind. But we've lost Awareness - due to the factor that created the ego. And that factor is FEAR.
The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." And the ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth.
There is thoughts, therefore there is thoughts.
"You're special. But everybody is special. So you're not really that special."
We don't NEED the ego anymore than we NEED to be alive. It was "obviously" ego speaking when he voiced how necessary it is.
I took a bunch of acid once and had an ego death.
P Bebnowski the whole point of taking psychedelics is to let go...
A bunch? You only need a bit.....
Yeah it took me months to pull myself together lol
Yeah I kind of regret it but don't at the same time. I lost touch with reality and went too deep lol.
I know I was having flashbacks for a while and felt like I was gonna lose it lol thank God it's over
I recall one emphasis interpreted by Alan Watts which was to "drop all desire".
Mr Feltcher Will Feltch Your Ass for Cash he was an accomplished professor and I couldnt see your accusation holding any grounds with his stable words and mind. I dont really care either if it was true, he carried minds to meaningful realms of thinking, even if he just had a swig.
But the concept fails.
As wise as he was he still had desires. Getting drunk was certainly one of them.
I think that's what Mr Feltcher is pointing out.
How would you drop all desires?
I think a better way to look at it is to not be controlled by those desires, by the ego.
zoorrken he was an accomplished philosopher AND mastered theology, so why and how can you claim he was a 'drunk'???
"You desire to be desireless" a direct quote he uses from Bhudda himself.
I believe I've heard him say himself in some video that he enjoys the alcohol but I could be wrong.
I see your point, but i don't see how that desire alone will make any difference?
Also I don't deny any of those things you said, he was a great philosopher.
What if Bhuddas real desire was to be seen as this man without any desire.... ☺
zoorrken so lets try to stick with our motto 'land of the free', as in even if someone indulges in what have you, doesnt require instant criticism, nor does it mean he cannot be intoxicated. The Nazi's aimed for this type of society, a "pure breed", its not anyones call who consumes what unless you wanna ride the same notion as WW2 perpetrators.
Really you should try it, and you'll find out what it does. Like I stated, it clears up those thoughts, in turn allows you to think about meaning rather than what you want to make that meaning(in life).
He is precise in all his courses, which he was fancy enough to record his lectures until the internet gave us this great treasure.
I like the way ideas of things like Buddhism are allowed to be interpreted and flexible and Freud, who often changed his ideas and even recognised his own mistakes, is treated as some fixed literal set of outdated beliefs. Orientalism in action.
The Buddha considered the ego all of the person. Freud considered the ego part of the person. It wasn't the same word or concept. It was close. The buddha taught to reunite with source by dissolving all of what a person is. The ego.
The words were conflated when we used the word "ego" to describe what Buddha was talking about.
It's not just that we get rid of the self entirely.
It's that we see that it has never been there in the first place.
It's way more radical than this professor makes it out to be.
Fine. But I don't like this typical mantra about how the ego is created by the "intellect". That's not all there's to it. We also have a visceral sense of ego. When something threatens you physically, like a dangerous looking person, a snake or an impending car accident, you feel threatened in your body, all the way down to your bones. That's not just the intellect saying "oh, my existence as a person is at risk, I must reinforce this illusion".
It's really an instinctive ego
Sure, but with insight a person can tell that's not real either.
Finally someone giving more credits to insticts and genes and not just intelect ( which is of course EQUALLY important)
There is a person, there is a monkey that has your name and that mates and avoids predators and other dangers. The problem is the identification with that monkey.
@@MrCmon113 I've heard this "identification" statement so many times, from so many people, that I honestly no longer understand what it means.
@@studentofspacetime
It's very subtle. I think the illusion of the self is created when in retrospect on actions or perceptions a character is inserted that acts or perceives. When people report on seeing an object, they really think that the experience of seeing had a dualistic character of an object of perception coming into contact with an observer. When really there was only the object appearing in consciousness.
It's an interesting approach to transference
TL;DR, Ego is selfish, serve the collective!
Interesting video on Buddhism and Freud!
Right. When Buddhism teaches for example that the world is an illusion, it does not mean that it is not real, rather it means that it is not what it seems on the surface or over a short period of time. Buddhism is about awakening to the assumptions that we make about ourselves and the world and seeing beyond the transient nature of reality and the conflicted state that we are in because we cant see the big picture, and that is what causes our suffering. Buddhism should not be seen as an escape from reality by means of meditation or some altered state of consciousness but rather total engagement with everything we are doing at all times, in the moment as a means of being whole and authentic.. No escapism or nihilism here, just the opposite. This is Zen. The way of being..
This is interesting but, it's basically what Socrates said about "knowing thyself", I mean in his philosophy we never finish understanding who we were so our life was an exploration of ourselves
I agree that it is somewhat similar to what Socrates said, but I don't think its basically the same. Socrates seems to have engaged in the pursuit of wisdom for the love wisdom itself. The Buddha taught that in the end his philosophy (which he personally described as "The Doctrine and Discipline") was a tool that was to be used and then eventually discarded. While we may never out grow the use of Socrates's teachings, we are expect to eventually out grow the Buddha's.
That's actually quite intéresting as a contrast of both philosophies, thank you =D
Don't mention it. I should really be thanking you, for giving me a chance to talk about one of my favorite subjects. :)
Why should you always take it back to some western philosopher? Because the Buddha actually came before Socrates and there were Indo-Greek kingdoms between India and Greece that could have literally trasferred buddhist ideas to Greece! Here is a picture of Hercules defending the Buddha: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Buddha-Herakles.JPG
Generally people reject solipsism because of inference from observation. Those observations lead us to think that other people are independent beings like us. It’s much more likely than the suggestion that they are imagined and it’s also what they will tell you if you ask them.
The ego is the dark companion of the soul. Your personal demon. It expresses outwardly what your soul feels inside. You can't have one without the other. They are yin and yang. Most people fight themselves but if they embraced their egos, they would have a powerful friend.
Only the ego wishes to save or get rid of the ego.
The ego is empty of permanence and independent existence. It's constantly in flux and is one with everything else, so holding on to it tightly makes no sense. It's like grasping water with your hands.
It’s that if you try to rid yourself of your ego, you believe it exists.
The thing is about you, is that the you that you think you are is just a bundle of thoughts, ideas and opinions.
Let all those things go, and what do you have left?
No one is asking you to let go of those things. Buddha certainly didn't teach that. He taught us that if we want to stop suffering, we must stop being obsessed about the Self, because there is nothing permanent about it ...
as a bhudist, we don't say we need to take rid of our egos, but that we shall not let our ego control our mind. there is the difference, we have to know our egos are just an illusion that there is ourself, when you discover there is no such thing, that there is no difference between you and the others, then you have the control over the things that happen.
Ego is the identification of consciousness as "me" with an idea, image, thought, sensation, etc. Ego is a convenient vehicle for consciousness to operate in this world.
Thank you. Nice explaination.
I conceive of the word 'ego' as a homonym.
Buddha seems to be talking about an entire sense of 'self', where I believe Freud used it to refer to what we now might call the Paleo-mammalian Cortex, the Ego "me and my own" the Id "pure desire" the Superego "the community, higher consciousness, prefrontal cortex."
What is the “person” or “self” or “ego” or “soul” made of? Where is it? Well simply it isnt there. The only thing that is there are the atoms that make up an organism which you call “yourself”. But there is no “soul” inside it controlling it. The only thing controlling the atoms behaviour is the laws of physics and chemistry, nothing else. The “you” that you think is in control of your thoughts and your feelings and your emotions simply doesnt exist. For example, you see a bear, your brain responds with fear, and responds by making your legs move and making you run away. You think there is a “controller” of your brain making decisions whether to run or not but there isnt, neuroscience keeps showing evidence that free will does not exist.
Ok then you say i am not a soul but i am my atoms. Well you arent because roughly every seven years every single atom in your body is different. Every single day atoms in your body are replaced by food you have eaten and drink you have drank and air you have breathed. So you arent even the atoms. You arent anything. You are just the same brain structure. But even over time that changes. That is why you are a different character when you are 7 as when you are 25 as when you are 75. Yes you feel you are the same person as you remember being the same person but you may have many new personality traits.
The real you is the universe being aware of itself. You are atoms, being aware that they are atoms. You are something the whole universe is doing in the same way a wave is something that the whole ocean is doing. You are more like a that is completely governed by the laws of physics at all times, 100% acting under the laws of nature and programmed how to act, only it doesnt feel that way at all, there is an illusory feeling of free will. But there isnt. You are as much a form of nature as a cloud, a tree a rock, a planet, a star, a waterfall. You are the universe, and we are all that, the real “you” is the laws of physics that is what does your behaviour
markdelej
The thing is that in my life I don’t have very many moments where I’m reacting to something like running in fear but instead having many different possibilities on what to do next; so using my atoms and neurological connections I see my “self” and am aware of my consciousness. There is no definable existence of my spiritual existence but I have something that makes me feel like I have a spirit that lets me go beyond only existing within the realm of physics. For us all we have the ability exist as souls and have our own separate spirits.
Dylan W there is no evidence for a soul. It is a feeling. I can feel the world is flat but so what? It is not, it is a sphere. I can feel anything i want, but so what. The only thing we can go by is experiment, and what nature tells and evidence. We follow the evidence and then we get to the right answers. I can never prove there is no soul, just as i cant prove santa doesnt exist but there is no evidence for either, and not only that there is plenty of evidence to suggest both dont exist as we know where santa cant live and we know he would have to break the speed of light to deliver all the presents which is physically impossible, with the soul we know what it isnt made of, we know it cant move atoms around or interact with them as then it would be a measurable thing with a detector made from atoms. Therefore the evidence suggests a soul does not exist. I’m not saying it definitely 100% doesnt, but i’m saying the evidence suggests it doesnt and never was there evidence for one that was confirmed scientifically. Therefore it is just irrational to believe in one
markdelej that was beauftiful..
blank awx thanks, once you realise there is no self then you will have no further problems. The “you” who had all the problems doesnt exist so then all the problems of pain and suffering simply dont exist either. Good luck!
there is a GOD
The ego is an illusion of the self, like self-importantce, competitiveness, jealousy... so in some way we could say it is "demonic" because even if it is common, it does not prompt people to bring love and harmony, but quite the opposite: resentment, disrespect, etc. So I understand why Budda would consider ego a bad thing and decide that the way was to slowly get rid of it to ascend. Can you succeed without ego? Well, those who are given higher positions are often giving and fair. Note that I said, are given; I know a case in education; an efficient but also kind and giving teacher was offered a very coveted position as he had met someone who was about to retire and thought of him, as he liked the type of person that this teacher was. True leaders are humble.
"Climbing the ladder" while stepping on others and being a disrespectful fake person can take the worker only so far until they go back to square one.
At first, true to be gold, I am absolutely Buddhism.For the time being,I genuinely believe in Buddhism,yet not all the time.Buddhism is not a religion what we cannot learn from books .It is the one who need to find the truth on your own. Lord Buddha just directs us the way of how we can find the truth.I don’t want to say Buddhism is the truthful religion, but I cannot critique the Buddhism just read books.
What are you trying to say of course ego in everyone's consciousness but you have to understand getting rid of ego makes you happy makes you to live peacefully that's what the Buddhism preach you..
Transcription :
Obviously we need our ego.
Of course you are real, you have a self, but you are not "really real". That belief is misguided, we take ourselves more seriously than we need to. The self is not as fix as we'd like to think. The ego is born out of fear and isolation, it comes into being when self consiousness starts to come, when you're 2 or 3 years old, when starting to make sense out of everything "who am I? Who are these parents?". The ego is a way of organizing oneself, it comes from the intellect as the line starts to click in. For many people it stays in an immature place where our thinking mind is defining for ourselves who we are taking either all the negative feedback (all the negativity) or the positive, the affirmation. And the ego likes certainty, security, repetition; so it's always reinforcing its own vision of itself. It starts to restrict us, to confine us, to make us think that we know ourselves better than we actually do.
To bring Buddhism into therapy to a secular audience, it is to gently bring doubt to the ego, maybe you don't know yourself as much as you think you do. Maybe those fixed ideas that were operating inside of you since you were a little kid and conditioning the way you interact with the world are not all so right.
What?!?! The reason I have a "self" is to obsess on myself. If it is going to be all about me it is up to me.
Who is it that decides there is no self? Or... who is assured enough to exist without ego?
The most popular guy in the bunch. Ask any cult leader.
Are you assuming there is a decider?
If there is no decider, what is the question?
There isn't a question in actuality. The ego needs a question though.
@@ZakeBudek When a biologist explains evolution to you and you ask "where is the evolutioner" or a physicist explains heat and you ask "where is the one making heat", then you simply haven't paid attention.
The entire point is that no self is required for decisions. In fact no self can even in principle fit anywhere in the process of a decision being made.
Thanks.
But the Question still remains "Does your ego need to die?" 😕
I don't think it can or needs to. Overinflation's the problem.
@@ggstylz inflation is definitely a problem. Along with killing your ego. The ego is there to perform and navigate through everyday life, killing your ego will destroy the structure in which your self-concept lies in. After you do that you can’t tell the difference between what’s real to you and what’s not because “you” don’t exist. When this happen, unconscious contents start to appear but without the guidance of your ego it can take a mental toll on you such as psychosis and schizophrenia. Deflate your ego, but keep it strong 💪
The ego needs to be seen for what it is, and then it will eventually be abandoned by you. The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world, the antichrist." And the ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth
@@tuwheratiaihaka2744 There is nothing to keep strong.
This self that you think does stuff is already not there. It's a character in retrospective thoughts.
You have helped me with your few amount of words, I thank you
Brilliant Summary!
How can we be aware and moderate how ego impacts us and live a well balanced, content, well served life ?
I like this topic, but how can this knowledge be applied to make life better?
I believe there are moments when ego needs to be fully utilised to achieve greater life, however there are moments when it has to be relatively silenced to keep us in check, do you agree?
I agree. it is not black/white : Ego is good, ego is bad. no, ego is sometimes good, it's sometimes bad. but you cannot delete it, how so many people in this comment section say. If someone ends up tricking themselves that they do not have an ego anymore, they are slowly but steadily approaching mental illness.
I think I'm 100% ego. Even when I meditate/mushrooms I'm very aware of myself and my thoughts.
I'm the least racist person you've ever interviewed. ------Donald Trump.
Good observation. As a prophet of God, I can tell you that Donald Trump serves as a perfect example of pure ego. And this is what an "anti-Christ" is: one who is totally possessed by the ego.
The ego is precisely what the Bible refers to with the terms: "the serpent, the beast, satan, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this world." And the ego is precisely what Yeshua One with Christ ("Jesus Christ") overcame, which is why he said: "I have overcome the world." His mission was to show us how to overcome the ego. ("He who overcomes will inherit all things.") Want to know exactly how the ego was "born"? Want to know The Meaning of Life - the best-kept secret in this world? See "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth
So Buddhism is saying that one's way of interpreting and navigating the world is not as fixed as one might believe it to be? Sounds rather straight forward. I think the key issue is that we over identify with who we are within a particular moment and we fail to see ourselves as continuously transforming beings. We seem to be even more oblivious to what causes these transformations and how to take advantage of these processes.
If ego dies no more human then ego is basic for human
Balance. Somewhere in the middle, between the 2.
Really helps
*my* ego?
No.
Yours?
Different question.
So what we need to train our egos?
I enjoy security like any other person, however..... I perform better in the rough waters of the ocean. That is my mistress. To put myself out there and see something in the eyes of another. To have a great understanding than which that is my own. Security is nice, but realizations about oneself and beyond is even better I believe.
Sooo....ego is like an avatar in a video game, u can change charachters that fits a certain challenge anytime u like, but the game is in a much advanced level, like the matrix movie or like virtual reality games and the goal is not fighting or riding a car but to collect data of life? ...am so confused someone help me here!
Well, The reason why I study Buddhism is because it is not a religion, but a philosophy of life, which gives me the tool of reflection, so that I can take responsibility for my thoughts and actions and learn from them. which gave me a collateral benefit like; live without fear and with an adult/conscious mind.
🍃
You can't get rid of the ego so long as there is a desire to physically exist, or basic survival instinct.
If consciousness is a feedback loop of information flowing through energy and matter across spacetime the ego can be looked at in a similar light to a garden's relationship between nature and nurture, tend to a garden and you may build something beautiful with time but just like death a perfect storm can wash everything away in an instant. In an empty field where a garden once stood you are left with a blank slate with the opportunity to build something anew, maybe something different that makes sense just for you or perhaps another garden with a twist to make it feel new. At the scale of humanity to say that we die may ring true but at the scale of the universe when what was once you is no longer you the observer that we were goes back to the place where it existed before you entered the feedback loop of your life to begin with: the void. From nothing in a place that does not exist at a time that never passed the universe found a way to draw your attention and set forth a "you" onto a life path. If the universe was clever enough to do this once, is it clever enough to do it again? Death may be the one thing that we all share but if consciousness is a feedback loop then death is just one of the things that separates the continuity of our experiences from each other and like the shadows of Plato's cave the thin sheet of reality that we live on may only be a part of a more complex system that exists in higher dimensions.
This only something people who belong to the norm can even discuss because they are unaware of the consequences of having a weak ego or none at all.
Essentially its taken for granted.
Where do people think many of our motivations come from? Not to mention its a central part in our communication skills. If you have no center self, then it causes a whole host of different issues.
True, but if I understand what you are implying (I may not, correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think Mark Epstein was talking about doing away with the Ego. I think he was just trying to clarify what the Buddhist perspective is on the Ego and the nature of "The Self".
there’s a presupposition made in your statement that assumes what the ego is, and how it works, it’s very well possible that the ego is not just a localised point of reference for consciousness to express itself as an individual but is indeed a set of contradicting psychological aggregates composed of the 7 capital sins and that what’s beneath that is a true essence or what buddhist refer to as atman
No one has any ego at all.
It's a misapprehension. Like an optical illusion. You can be taken in by the illusion more or less often, but you can't have more or less of it.
Pride and hatred are powerful motivators, but are they really worth living in delusion?
You create your reality. Your personal idea that you *are* your personality traits or you *are* a mother or a father, are merely titles or labels that are taken, accepted and used as a sort of modality of expression in which you exist as this label and function as what you think you are. Genuine self introspection expands these ideas, which in turn expand your understandings of self, thusly allowing more freedom/choice in every moment. You are not merely an accountant. You are all, in a sense.
You clearly need an ego. You just do not have to hold on to it. At least, be aware that the ego is completely made up by your mind. And whatever you do, do not mistake your ego for who you really are. Your ego tells you that you have a name, desires, traits, basically it makes you focus on yourself and that is why ego is always associated with narcissism. Whereas, if you look into who you really are, you will find that you are just another human with an ego living on this planet which is floating in this dark, cold, silent, and empty universe.
Really helpful, thank you
Good topic but he needs to explain first how and why Buddha said about Egoless. Ego means soul. In the Vedic age, Hindu philosophers used to think (even today) that living beings have soul and because of soul human-beings experience through sensual organs. The Hindus belied that soul is immortal and change the body as we change our clothes. Buddha said no, there is no soul or no ego, ego is illusion because of our contacts between 6 sensual organs, 6 consciousness and 6 objects (like visual, sounds, taste, smell, touch, and thoughts). When these 6x3=18 faculties conditioned to contact then human being feels ego (self or soul). It is illusion like when we feel moving but other train moves. Nikola Testa appreciated this idea of Buddha, and even Sam Harris has tried to explain it!
It all depends on the use of the word ego. In Buddhism there is no ego noself period. In Hinduism there is the Atman the true self but the ego is the false idea we have of ourselves and that is based on our misconceptions. In Christianity it is similar to the Hindu idea of there being a permanent self or ego. I think Freuds use of the term is used to describe the balancing aspect of our personality that mediates between our primal desires the id and our higher ideals the super ego. I don't think they are really comparable.
Like the armor of an evangelion the ego contains us and protects us. It's how we wield it or adapt it that is the issue
We are an ego, it's just that our ego is subjected to the nature of the present time, which is continuous, that's why, when we think about it, we can only think about things that have already happened. That's also why, if we want to strive to be a better person, in order to continue improving ourselves, that we have to take into account that knowledge evolves: even certain Buddha's teachings don't make sense anymore to us, sons of the 20th and 21st centuries, to create harmonious lives. After all, although he has been an exceptional human being philosophically wise, he is a son of his time, which happened already 2500 years ago. :) Thank you Buddha, we remmember what you did, we think about the teachings we remmember from you, we see if they are all still valid to help creating a harmonious life and, in case of need, we adapt Buddhism to our time, and we keep going towards the best version of us that we can achieve.
I just wish i could live without feeling like I might have an anxiety attack at any moment. Mushrooms really helped me realise that we all have a mental wall put up 24/7 , to protect ourselves from all the bad vibes and negative things all around us. But those "walls" make us limited in ways i cant explain or understand fully.
I am going to buy his book. Thanks RUclips👍
Thought the video was gonna talk about like... Ego and happiness that sort of thing, like.... Erasing the pain of desiring something couldn't get for being happy that kind of thing, but the real video gets all scientific, and knowledge-sending
Self image is a Left-brain function, creator of our World-of-Things, self included; in contrast to a Right-brain experience of participating in the Whole of existence! Again, what we need, continually, is our Right-brain leading, working collaboratively with Mr. Lefty, to continue our Journey to the Stars!!!
How about this ... everyone is malleable; ego is a safety mechanism; no one is that significant.
Thank you